The deadline for WPL teams to announce which players they have retained from last year's squads ahead of the mega auction this year passed yesterday (November 6), with 17 players retained in total across the five teams.
What are the rules for player retentions?
A mega auction will take place this year, which means teams have to release more of their squads than they have in previous years. Teams could only retain a maximum of five players ahead of the mega auction, and only two teams (Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals) have retained that many. On top of that, teams could only retain three India capped players, two overseas players of two uncapped Indian players. A team deciding to retain five players had to retain at least one uncapped domestic player.
The BCCI has also introduced fixed price slabs for retained players, which will be deducted from each franchise’s total purse of INR 15 crore. The first retained player will take 3.5 crore from a team's purse, the second will take 2.5 crore, the third will take 1.75 crore, the fourth will take 1 crore and the fifth will take 50 lakh.
WPL 2026 player retentions: Full list ahead of the mega auction
| Team | Retained players |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Smriti Mandhana Ellyse Perry* Richa Ghosh Shreyanka Patil |
| Mumbai Indians | Harmanpreet Kaur Nat Sciver-Brunt* Hayley Matthews* Amanjot Kaur G Kamalini |
| Delhi Capitals | Jemimah Rodrigues Shafali Verma Marizanne Kapp* Annabel Sutherland* Niki Prasad |
| Gujarat Giants | Ash Gardner* Beth Mooney* |
| UP Warriorz | Shweta Sehrawat |
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